Hand label dispenser



Aug. 28, 1962 A. P. KRUEGER 3,051,353

HAND LABEL DISPENSER Filed Nov. 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY5 Aug. 28, 1962 A. P. KRUEG'ER HAND LABEL DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed'Nov. 2, 1959 INVENTOR ATTORNEYI) 3,051,353 HAND LABEL DESPENSER Alfred P. Krueger, Sonthbury, Conn, assignor, by mesue assignments, to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 850,210 9 Claims. (Cl. 221-731) This invention relates to a label dispenser, and more particularly to a portable hand label dispenser which may be held in, and operated by, one hand of the operator, leaving the other hand free to receive and apply the labels.

In many instances labels are applied to packages and other articles in large numbers and automatic machines have been provided for this purpose. In some instances, however, it is desirable to apply labels such as price labels, for example, to relatively small numbers of articles such as a few dozen or even a few gross where a more complex automatic machine would not be required.

The labels are usually provided in the form of supply rolls, the labels having pressure-sensitive material on one side thereof, and are carried by a backing or carrier strip to which they lightly adhere. These labels often are provided with a blank space upon which prices or other indicia may be printed, which printing is performed by the user. When less than a roll of labels is to be printed, it is customary to simply print up a string of labels, not in roll form, which are carried to the place where the goods are to be marked and the labels peeled off the backing or carrier strip one by one.

In other instances a full roll of labels may be imprinted and rewound, and in that event it is desirable, as well as when only a few are employed, to provide a portable dispenser which may readily and conveniently dispense a short strip or a relatively small number of labels from the roll.

It is contemplated by the present invention to provide a light portable hand dispenser with which may be employed either a strip of labels or a roll thereof and the labels dspensed or separated from the carrier strip one by one to be grasped by the operator and applied to the articles to be labeled. The device may be held by one hand of the operator and operated by the fingers of the same hand, leaving the other hand free to receive and apply the labels.

As illustrated the carrier strip and the labels adhering thereto are fed through the device by means of feed rollers which engage the carrier strip after the labels have been detached therefrom. These rollers are normally held in a position in which their surfaces are slightly spaced and one of them is driven by the pressure of the thumb or finger of the user by means of an operating lever. The thrust of this lever is employed to move one roll into feeding relation with the other so that the carrier strip will be gripped between them during the feeding operation but will be released upon release of the operation lever.

One object of the present invention is to provide a portable hand label dispenser which may be conveniently held in the hand of the operator and employed to dispense labels lightly adhering to backing or carrier strip.

A further object of the invention is to provide a portable hand label dispenser of the character described wherein an operating lever is pivoted to a frame member, this operating lever being engaged with one of a pair of feed rollers which grip the backing or carrier strip and draw the labels through the machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide 'a hand label dispenser of the character described wherein the carrier strip upon which the labels are mounted is drawn over the edge of a support at a relatively sharp .angle to detach the label from the strip and wherein the Patented Aug. 28, 1962 ice dispenser is of light weight and of simple and inexpensive character.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a hand label dispenser embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a to plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of a portion of the dispenser;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view partly in section of the working parts of the dispenser, showing the side opposite that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view of the friction washer employed in connection with one of the feed rollers;

'FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 4, showing a slightly modified form of my device;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7, showing a further modification;

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a view of the rear end portion of the dis penser, showing a supply roll of labels carried thereby;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view on line 11--11 of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a side elevational view of the forward portion of a modified form of drive for the feed rollers of the dispenser.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention there is shown in the drawings a hand label dispenser comprising a frame or body portion 10 of channel-shaped form in cross section. This member is relatively long with respect to its width, and the rear portion 11 thereof may be bent or disposed at an angle with respect to the forward portion so as to carry a strip of labels designated generally by the numeral 12 in an inclined position. If the supply of labels is in the form of a strip rather than a roll, the end of the strip may simply depend from the open rear end of the channel-shaped frame, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the label strip being held in place by a roller 13 mounted in the side walls of the portion 11 of the U-shaped frame and spaced slightly from the bottom thereof.

The label supply, as shown, is in the form of a backing or carrier strip 14 upon which lightly adhere the separate labels 15 which are provided with pressure-sensitive material on their undersurf aces, which material adheres lightly to the backing strip. The forward edge of the bottom member of the frame 10 provides a relatively sharp corner 16 over which the strip is bent so as to detach the labels 15 from the backing strip 14-.

An arm 18 depends from the frame, and a feed roller 19 is rotatably carried on a pin 20 secured to this arm,

this roller being mounted on a fixed axis.

Cooperating with the roller 19 is a movable or separable roller 21, this roller being secured to a shaft 22 rotatably mounted in the walls of a channel-shaped lever 23, this lever being placed back to back with respect to the frame 10 so that the channel opens downwardly. The lever 23 is pivoted at 24 to a block 25 secured by screws 26 to the bottom portion of the frame 10, this block extending through an opening 27 in the web portion of the lever 23, and is provided with a lower inclined surface 28 against which rests the turned end 29 of a spring 30 coiled about the pin 20 of the feed roller 19.

An operating lever 31 is pivoted by a pin or rivet 32 to the frame 10 and extends rcarwardly therefrom. At its rear end this lever is provided with a laterally extending operating member 33 which may be engaged by the finger or thumb of the operator to be depressed.

A rack member 34 having teeth 35 on its rear edge is secured to the lever 31, the toothed edge of this member being of arcuate shape, the are being described about the pivot point 32 so that the teeth will properly mesh with a pinion 36 secured to the shaft 22 of the movable or swinging roller 21. With this construction it will be seen that movement of the lever 31 about its pivot 32 will effect rotation of the roller 21. A spring 38 is secured to the frame at 39, and its free end bears against the member 33 to hold the lever 31 in its upper position in which the part 33 engages the laterally turned end 40 of a stop member 41. This member is adjustably connected to the frame by the provision of an elongated slot 42 through which passes a headed screw 43' threaded into the side wall of the frame 10.

By loosening the screw 43 the stop 41 may be adjusted so as to limit the upward movement of the lever 31 and thereby limit its throw. It is limited in the other direction by the engagement of the member 33 with the upper edges of the sides of the charmel-shaped frame 16.

The roller 21 will be rotated in a feeding direction when the lever 31 is depressed, and it will also be rotated in a reverse direction when the lever is raised to the position shown in the drawings by the spring 68. In order to prevent the carrier strip 14 of the labels from being moved in a reverse direction when the lever 31 and segment 34 move upwardly and to effect proper feeding of the strip when the lever is moved downwardly, the roll 21 is provided upon the freely swinging lever 23* so that it may move toward and from the fixed-axis roller 19. It will be apparent that with the parts in the position shown in FIG. 1, if pressure is applied to the member 33', the directional thrust of the rack teeth 35 upon the gear 36 will effect downward swinging of the roller 21 to grip the strip 14 between it and the roller 19. Likewise upward movement of the lever 31 by the spring 38 will swing the roller 21 upwardly to effect a separating movement of the rolls.

In order that the roll 21 be moved downwardly prior to its rotation so as to obtain the benefit of the full stroke of the lever 31 a frictional drag is placed upon the rotation of the roller 21. To this end a bowed washer 44 (FIGS. and 6) embraces the shaft 22 and is placed between the roller 21 and a spacer or hearing member 45 secured to the side wall of the lever 23. A similar spacer or hearing member 46 is also provided at the opposite side of the roller 21.

In order to maintain the label strip flatly upon the bottom web portion of the frame it approaches the edge 16 thereof, a flat spring member 48, bowed upwardly at an intermediate portion thereof, below which the strip is led, is disposed below a roller 49 embracing the pin 32 so that the spring member bears at its upper surface against this roller and at its lower surface against the bottom web of the frame member. The spring 30 already described maintains the carrier strip against the lower inclined face 28 of the block 25 so as to hold the carrier strip taut between this point and the edge 16.

The supply strip of labels 12 mounted upon the carrier strip is threaded through the device Within the channel of the frame portions 10 and 11 below the roll 13 and also below the spring 48, as shown in- FIG. 1. It is bent over the edge 16, and the carrier strip is then carried downwardly and rearwardly between the inclined face 28 of the block 25 and the portion 29 of the spring 30 and led between the fixed-axis roll19 and the movable or swinging roll 20.

The device is now ready for operation, and depression of the lever 31 by pressure of the finger or thumb of the operator upon the laterally turned portion 33 of this lever will first move the roll 21 toward the roll 19 to grip the tape therebetween and thereafter will efifect rotation of the roll 21 to draw the carrier strip through the device. It will be understood that the adjustable stop 41 will be properly adjusted to feed the strip a distance equal to the length of one label upon each depression of the lever 31.

As the tape is bent sharply over the edge 16, the labels will be stripped from the carrier strip and project outwardly or forwardly from the edge 16 so that they may be grasped by the user for application to the article to be labeled. When the lever 31 is released, it will be moved upwardly by the spring 38, and, due to the frictional drag upon the roll 21, this roll will first be raised out of contact with the roll 19 prior to rotation thereof so that the carrier strip will not be fed in a reverse direction. The movement of the roll 21 away from the roll 19 will be limited by the engagement of the edge of the opening 27 with the block 25. At this time the end of the carrier strip is prevented from slipping backward by being held against the table or inclined surface 28 by the end 29 of the spring 30.

In FIG. 7 of the drawing I have shown a slight modification wherein the spring member 48 is extended some distance forwardly of the edge 16, as shown at 48 so that the extended end of this member may, if desired, be used as an applicator to apply the label to an article. Otherwise the construction is the same as that previously described.

In FIGS. 8 and 9 an applicator for applying the labels to the article to be labeled is provided by means of an applicator roller 51 rotatably mounted in extended ends 52 of the side walls of the frame member 10. As a label is stripped from the carrier strip 14, the extended end projects under the roller 51 and may be applied thereby to the article.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 of the drawings, if it is desired to dispense labels from a supply roll instead of an elongated strip, the side members of the portion 11 of the frame may be provided with slots 54 through which may be passed the upper leg of a U-shaped hanger 56, the lower leg 57 thereof serving to support the supply roll 58. The device may, therefore, be employed either with a strip of labels or with a roll of labels suspended from the frame, the construction being of such light weight that it may readily be held in the hand of the operator and carried from place to place even when supporting the label supply roll 58.

In FIG. 12 there is shown a modified form of drive for the pinion 36, the remainder of the construction being the same as that described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 5. In this modification instead of employing a toothed rack of arcuate shape, a straight rack 68' having teeth 61 is pivoted at 62 to the operating lever 31 pivoted to the frame 10 at 32 as before. The teeth of the rack 60 are maintained in engagement with those of the pinion 36 by the body portion of a headed stud 63 threaded into the side wall of the lever 33. Thus, while the rack member 60' is permitted a pivotal movement about the point 62 during oscillation of the lever 31, its teeth are always maintained in engagement with the pinion 36.

In this modification also the directional thrust of the rack teeth 61 will, upon downward movement, first move the roll 21 toward the roll 19 before rotation of the pinion 36, and likewise upon upward movement of the lever 31 the roll 21 will be separated from the roll 19 prior to its reverse rotation by the rack teeth 61.

As shown in FIG. 1, the device, in operation, is held in the hand of the user, the portion 11 of the frame being grasped by the fingers of the hand (either hand may be employed) while the portion 33 of the lever 31 may be conveniently depressed by the thumb of the same hand.

While I have shown and described some preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

l. A hand dispenser for labels carried on a backing strip comprising a frame providing a strip support, a pair of cooperating rotatably mounted feed rolls supported from the frame and between which the strip is gripped to be advanced thereby, an actuating member movably mounted on the frame and having means for manual operation thereof to effect movement of said actuating member in one direction, and operative means of connection between said actuating member and one of said feed rolls, the last-mentioned roll being mounted for movement toward and away from the other of said feed rolls, the actuating member being spring-biased in the opposite direction toward the normal position thereof in which the movable roll is maintained out of driving relation with the strip through said operative means of connection, the actuating member being operative on manipulation to move said movable roll into a position for driving engagement with the strip and drive the lastmentioned roll, the strip being gripped between the rolls only when the movable roll is in the last-mentioned position thereof.

2. A hand dispenser for labels as defined in claim 1 wherein drag means is provided acting on said movable roll, tending on manipulation of the actuating member to inhibit drive of the movable roll until the last-mentioned roll reaches the last-mentioned position thereof.

3. A hand dispenser for labels as defined in claim 1 wherein the operative means of connection between said actuating member and the movable roll is constituted by a rack carried by the actuating member and a pinion meshing with the rack in fixed relation to said movable roll.

4. A hand dispenser for labels carried on a backing strip comprising a frame providing a strip support, a pair of cooperating rotatably mounted feed rolls supported from the frame and between which the strip is gripped to be advanced thereby, an actuating member pivotally mounted on the frame and having means for manual operation thereof to effect swinging movement of said actuating member in one direction, and operative means of connection between said actuating member and one of said feed rolls, the last-mentioned roll being mounted for swinging movement toward and away from the other of said feed rolls, the actuating member being spring-biased in the opposite direction toward a normal position in which the movable roll is maintained out of driving relation with the strip through said operation means of connection, the actuating member being operative on manipulation to move said movable roll into a position for driving engagement with the strip and drive the lastmentioned roll, the strip being gripped between the rolls only when the movable roll is in the last-mentioned position thereof.

5. A hand dispenser for labels as defined in claim 4 wherein said operative means of connection is constituted by a rack carried by the actuating member and a pinion meshing with the rack and fixed to said movable roll.

6. A hand dispenser for labels as defined in claim 5 wherein the rack is fixed to the actuating member in rigid relation therewith and adjustable means is provided to vary the amplitude of movement of the actuating member.

7. A hand dispenser for labels as defined in claim 5 wherein the rack is pivoted to the actuating member and is maintained by means on the frame in meshing relation with the pinion.

8. A hand dispenser for labels as defined in claim 5 wherein drag means is provided acting on the movable roll, tending to inhibit driving movement of this roll on manipulation of the actuating member until the lastmentioned roll reaches the last-mentioned position thereof.

9. A hand dispenser for labels carried on a backing strip comprising a frame generally of channel shape providing a strip support, the frame having laterally spaced apart depending bracket portions and having means providing an edge portion over which the strip is drawn and sharply bent to strip the labels therefrom, the strip being directed between said bracket portions after passing said edge portion, the frame being elongated and having at one end a handle portion by which the frame may be supported in one hand, an actuating lever for manipulation by a finger of the same hand and extending generally lengthwise of the frame and having one end thereof pivoted to the other end portion of the frame for swinging movement of said lever, a pair of cooperating rotatably mounted feed rolls, one of which extends between and is journaled in said bracket portions, the frame intermediate the bracket portions and the last-mentioned end thereof having a downward protrusion thereon, a lever of generally inverted channel shape having an opening therethrough loosely receiving said protrusion and to which protrusion the lever is pivoted intermediate the ends thereof, the lever extending intermediate said brackets for swinging movement therebetween and rotatably mounting the other feed roll for cooperation with its mate, the lever-carried roll having a pinion in fixed relation thereto and meshing with the rack carried by the actuating lever which rack, on manipulation of the actuating lever in one direction by a finger of the hand holding the frame, serves to move the lever-carried roll into cooperating relationship with its mate and drive the former to advance the strip, the actuating lever being spring biased in the opposite direction toward a normal position in which the lever-carried roll is maintained out of driving relation with the strip through engagement of the rack with the pinion, the strip, when the lever-carried roll is out of driving relation therewith, being maintained substantially taut by means pressing the strip against the underside of said protrusion, the strip passing through at least a portion of the inverted channel-shaped lever supporting the last-mentioned roll.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,569,140 Avery Sept. 25, 1951 2,656,063 Kafka Oct. 20, 1953 2,754,994 Cole July 17, 1956 2,802,598 Petterson Aug. 13, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,130,622 France Feb. 7, 1957 

